Article | The Art Lovers Guide To Shanghai November 2026

As Shanghai Art Week transforms the city into a vibrant global hub of contemporary creativity, collectors and connoisseurs descend upon its sleek riverside galleries. Anchoring this cultural momentum is Phillips' upcoming selling exhibition, Artists of the Upper East, offering an exceptional lens into the vital dialogues shaping contemporary Chinese art today as part of our ongoing partnership with Capella Hotels, Living Art.

Below, discover all the must-see places in the city where tradition and the avant-garde flow together seamlessly.

Along the Suzhou Creek 苏州河畔

1: SUHE HAUS

SUHE HAUS is a dynamic art and design center anchored in a thriving creative community. Its programming spans interdisciplinary exhibitions, positioning the venue well beyond the scope of a conventional gallery. Set along the scenic banks of Suzhou Creek, it serves as an inspiring destination to experience contemporary art and design within a collaborative cultural ecosystem.

Discover more: SUHE HAUS · Official Instagram

2: Fotografiska Shanghai

Founded in Stockholm in 2010, Fotografiska has grown into a global institution with locations in Berlin, Tallinn, Shenzhen, and Shanghai — where its contemporary museum is devoted to photography, art, and culture. Its programme brings photography into conversation with a wider range of visual practices, while its riverside setting connects a visit to the changing cultural landscape of Suzhou Creek. The museum offers a focused destination to discover how images shape the way we see the world.

Discover more: Fotografiska Shanghai · Official Instagram

3: Pillars Gallery

Founded in 2025, Pillars Gallery is located along Suzhou Creek inside Shanghai’s historic Guang’er Warehouse. The former industrial warehouse gives the gallery an architectural backdrop, with columns running through the interior. “Pillars” functions as both a reference to those columns and a metaphor for support, connection and continuity between different histories, times and languages.

Discover more: Pillars Gallery website · Official Instagram

Columbia Circle 上生新所

Columbia Circle weaves the layered history of a historic Shanghai site into a vibrant contemporary campus. Its renewal preserves landmark buildings alongside new architecture and public spaces, creating an urban landscape defined by contrast, reuse, and continuity. Eminently walkable, the district invites exploration — offering everything from architectural storytelling to destinations like Tsutaya Books.

Discover more: OMA project · West 8 project gallery · Official project portfolio · Columbia Circle · Shops

West Bund 西岸

1: West Bund Art Center

For Shanghai’s creative vanguard, the West Bund in the upscale Xuhui District is the city’s undisputed cultural epicentre. On par with New York’s Museum Mile or London’s South Bank, the district has solidified its reputation as a global art destination, hosting landmark exhibitions with artists and brands like Chanel and KAWS alongside premier institutions such as the Long Museum, Yuz Museum, and TANK Shanghai.

Discover more: 西岸 | WEST BUND

2: GATE M West Bund Dream Center

GATE M reimagines a former cement factory along Shanghai’s West Bund as a dynamic cultural and leisure district. The project preserves the raw character of its industrial past through striking new interventions — most notably vibrant orange circulation elements — that turn the contrast between robust factory forms and refined public spaces into an immersive spatial experience.

Discover more: MVRDV - GATE M West Bund Dream Center

3: West Bund Museum 西岸美术馆

Designed by David Chipperfield, the West Bund Museum is a restrained, light-filled contemporary art institution anchoring Shanghai’s Xuhui waterfront. Its architecture opens outward toward the Huangpu River, seamlessly integrating into the district’s public cultural corridor. With its balanced galleries and open civic setting, the building functions as an inviting frame for experiencing art.

Discover more: West Bund Museum · Official Instagram Page

4: Long Museum West Bund

Long Museum West Bund pairs a sweeping collection of Chinese and international art with a striking architectural landmark. Designed by Atelier Deshaus architect Liu Yichun, the museum is defined by its sculptural board-formed concrete and distinctive umbrella-vault structure. Ingeniously incorporating a former industrial coal hopper from the site’s past, the design physically weaves the waterfront's history into the visitor experience.

Discover more: Long Museum West Bund · Official Instagram

Capella Shanghai 上海建业里嘉佩乐酒店

Nestled within the historic Shikumen lanes of Jian Ye Li, Capella Shanghai bridges its architectural heritage with the dynamic cultural pulse of the city. Through its Living Art partnership with Phillips, part of the hotel group’s bespoke Capella Curates program, Capella Shanghai invites guests to delve into Shanghai’s layered neighborhood histories — from Art Deco architecture and musical legacies to traditional arts like calligraphy. Inside, The Living Room library offers a quiet retreat, where curated books and historical newspapers provide a tangible window into the past.

Phillips presents Artists of the Upper East: Independence & Resonance in a Contemporary Context at Capella Shanghai during Shanghai Art Week 2026.

Discover more: Hotel Programme · 酒店宾客活动

Power Station of Art

Rising along the banks of the Huangpu River, the towering thermometer-capped chimney marks the unmistakable silhouette of the Power Station of Art (PSA). Honoring its industrial past as a functioning plant, PSA stands as China’s first public contemporary art museum and the permanent home of the Shanghai Biennale. The striking juxtaposition of the humid riverside air against a vanguard cultural institution creates a powerful tension, setting the stage for an interior where the building's raw industrial bones continue to tell stories.

Discover more: Power Station of Art